Boston, December 18, 1813. On Thursday last, two young men, one named Livermore and the other Angier, received the sentence of death, at the Supreme Court held at Cambridge, for the murder of an Indian man, named Nicholas John Cruay [i.e., Crevay], and his wife ...
Coverly was probably still selling the broadsides describing the scheduled hanging of Samuel Tully and John Dalton (A Copy of a Letter from Samuel Tully, On Samuel Tully and John Dalton, The Last Words of S. Tully, and a second The Last Words of S. Tully), when another murder occurred, also by two men who were summarily sentenced to death. Coverly immediately planned two broadsides and ordered two new cuts to illustrate them. He mentioned the previous case in the opening paragraph of the second of these two broadsides,Thou Shalt Do No Murder.
Coverly first printed Boston, December 18, 1813 without a display heading and in a later edition with the title Trial for Murder. Both editions featured the newspaper report and a long didactic poem. The report was copied verbatim from the Boston Patriot of December 18, 1813. It described the details of the crime in which an Indian named Nicholas John Cruay (Crevay) and his wife were killed, treating the Indian victims with considerable sympathy.[1] The Boston Gazette on December 20, 1813, reported further lurid details of the case after the sentencing.
Following the introductory text on Boston, December 18, 1813 is a lengthy ballad. The many religious references and sophisticated poetic idiom suggest that a clergyman was responsible, perhaps for the sermon on Thou Shalt Do No Murder as well as the lyrics on this broadside.
The second broadside, Thou Shalt Do No Murder, is larger; the title is integral to the design rather than just added to the top, and it is amplified by the details of the sentence. The italic text is selected from Proverbs 1, verses 10-11 and 15-16. The following essay refers back to the Tully hanging and reviews the facts of another such sentence that is to be inflicted. Beneath are nine verses in ballad meter selected from the much longer version on Boston, December 18, 1813. Here only verses 1-11 and 21-24 are printed.
Citation
“Boston, December 18, 1813. On Thursday last, two young men, one named Livermore and the other Angier, received the sentence of death, at the Supreme Court held at Cambridge, for the murder of an Indian man, named Nicholas John Cruay [i.e., Crevay], and his wife ...,” Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, accessed December 6, 2023, https://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/271.
![Woodcut for Boston, December 18, 1813 : On Thursday last, two young men, one named Livermore and the other Angier, received the sentence of death, at the Supreme Court held at Cambridge, for the murder of an Indian man, named Nicholas John Cruay [i.e., Crevay], and his wife ...](https://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/files/square_thumbnails/b1c050b65ef91eb3368b239e9f419f5c.jpg "Woodcut for Boston, December 18, 1813 : On Thursday last, two young men, one named Livermore and the other Angier, received the sentence of death, at the Supreme Court held at Cambridge, for the murder of an Indian man, named Nicholas John Cruay [i.e., Crevay], and his wife ...")
![Woodcut for Thou shalt do no murder : On Thursday, December 16, sentence of death was passed in a most solemn and impressive manner, by the Hon. Judge Sewall, upon Livermore and Angier, after a conviction of the murder of Nicholas John Cruay [i.e., Crevay], an Indian, on the night of the 23d. November](https://www.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/files/square_thumbnails/0387732933d41248aab2b15c8bb822fd.jpg "Woodcut for Thou shalt do no murder : On Thursday, December 16, sentence of death was passed in a most solemn and impressive manner, by the Hon. Judge Sewall, upon Livermore and Angier, after a conviction of the murder of Nicholas John Cruay [i.e., Crevay], an Indian, on the night of the 23d. November")